E-health gives Coalition a headache

The Coalition is facing renewed calls to clarify its position in relation to electronic health after a report found Australians were overwhelmingly in support of e-health records.

The research, conducted by Newspoll for technology outsourcer CSC, showed 96 per cent of Australians were in favour of a single aggregated e-health record system.

Support for such a system was strong, despite a marked lack of awareness of the federal government’s existing e-health policies. Only 46 per cent of those surveyed knew the government was planning such a system.

CSC’s Australian director of health services, Lisa Pettigrew, said the survey showed government needed to undertake a comprehensive education campaign around its e-health policies, but there was also a significant need for the opposition to clarify its intentions in this area.

“It’s clear there is a point of difference between the parties on e-health," she said.

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Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has said the Coalition does not endorse the $466.7 million in funding allocated to the implementation of the national health identifier, which would underpin a national e-health records system. If elected, a Coalition government would redirect the funding into mental health initiatives.

“But separately they [the opposition] have made comments that they support e-health," Ms Pettigrew observed.

“We need them to come out and be clear: what is their e-health policy? If they are not going to introduce an electronic health record, what is it they would do?"

Opposition e-health spokesman, Andrew Southcott, declined to comment ahead of the release of the Coalition’s official health policy. A date for the policy’s release is not yet known.

The demand for clarity echoes earlier calls from the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. PSA president Warwick Plunkett argued there was “demonstrable evidence" that e-health records would significantly reduce incidence of hospitalisation and “improve the wellbeing of all Australians".

Ms Pettigrew said one of the things survey participants liked about the e-health system was its ability to helpthem better monitor their own health. “We have one of the highest rates of GP visitation among similarly developed countries," she said. “It’s possible electronic records and self-monitoring might go some way to reduce that."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard flagged e-health policy as an important differentiator between the parties in her closing arguments of Sunday’s TV debate, stating she would not cut back investments in e-health records. But Ms Pettigrew said it was not a policy Australians understood even if they did support the idea.

“We clearly need a substantial marketing and promotion project aimed not just at consumers but also driven through clinicians as well," she said. “A lot of Australians refer to their doctors for advice about the health system."